When Does ‘Transparent’ Season 5 Come Out?

Transparent Season 4 dropped on Friday on Amazon prime, a gorgeous season that saw the Pfefferman family travel to Israel and sing along to the Jesus Christ Superstar musical album. Even in its fourth season, Transparent remains the bedrock of Amazon’s original programming, and even without being the shiny new jewel in the streaming universe, it remains one of the best shows on television. And we’re already looking forward to next season.

So … when exactly will that be? First things first…

Are We Getting Transparent Season 5?

We sure are! Amazon announced that they renewed Transparent for season 5 back on August 24th. The early, before-the-current-season-even-debuts is a sign of confidence from the streaming platform in its flagship show.

When Should We Expect Transparent Season 5?

Beyond “some time in 2018,” we don’t know. Unlike most streaming shows, Transparent hasn’t stayed in the same spot on the calendar. Season 1 premiered in September, while season 2 jumped to December. Seasons 3 and 4 were back to September, so if you felt like circling September 2018 in pencil for Transparent season 5, that wouldn’t be the worst idea.

Will Jill Soloway Be Back Behind the Camera?

Here’s one change we know about: after four seasons as showrunner, Soloway will be stepping back from those duties and handing the reins to Jill Gordon. Soloway — who now identifies as gender non-conforming and prefers they/them pronouns — will be spending more time shepherding their other Amazon series I Love Dick, though they will still be writing and directing certain Transparent episodes. Gordon’s TV credits range from 90210 to My So-Called Life and Doogie Howser, M.D., though the show she most recently created/executive-produced was Heartbeat.

What Cliffhangers Should We Be Most Concerned About?

SEASON 4 SPOILERS

For the most part, the Pfeffermans ended season 4 in a peaceful place. Josh (Jay Duplass) made peace with his memories of Rita; Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) invited Davina (Alexandra Billings) to come live with her; and Ali stayed in Israel in order to think about God and gender some more. The closest thing we got to a true cliffhanger came in the closing moments, after Sarah (Amy Landecker), Len (Rob Heubel), and Lila (Alia Shawkat) have breakup sex, and Len reveals that he came inside of Lila. The shared look on Len and Sarah’s faces translates to “Oh shit, we’re on a TV show, which means Lila is definitely getting pregnant.”